Where the Ice meets the Ice

On our way back from Cape Evan's, our group had the EXTREME pleasure of touring some ice caves in the tip of the Erebus Ice Tongue. The Erebus Ice Tongue is a glacier that flows, at a rate of one foot/day, down the slopes of Mt. Erebus and bulges and carves its way into the semi-permanent Sea Ice of the Ross Sea.

Occasionally, ice caves form at the tip of this glacier, where the ice flow meets the frozen sea. And once in a great blue moon, these caves are deemed stable by FSTOP (Field Safety and Training Operations) and opened up for recreational tours. This is a rare opportunity and I feel incredibly lucky to have toured the caves. I only wish the pictures could do it justice!

This captures where the glacier meets the Sea Ice


Here is the entrance to the Caves


Below are some pics of the formations of snow that builds up on the glacier face

This is sea ice, covered in snow, and cracking and bulging under the weight of the glacier

The entrance to the caves is a slide that leads to another world

Inside the caves

Here I am leaning against the face of the Erebus Ice Tongue